ES&S, a private company, will now be responsible for counting over 80%
of all US voters' votes using trade secret software, with no
independent post-election audits at all, except for New Mexico's flat
rate audits that provide very little chance of detecting incorrect
election outcomes in close margin contests.

Normally I don't agree with Rob Richie who has been one of the most
successful proponents of costly, complex, and fundamentally unfair
voting methods such as instant runoff voting and single transferable
voting, but this time I agree with virtually all he says in his HuffPo
article.

It never fails to amaze me that US election results are only subjected
to internal audits, and that many of these internal "post-election
audits", like Utah's, are designed to avoid checking the accuracy of
any of the reported vote counts. Why isn't the public railing against
secretly conducted elections?

There is talk of a possible anti-trust suit.

More articles from the daily voting news:

Diebold Unloads Beleaguered Voting Machine Division (Wired News)
September 3, 2009 ES&S purchased the company for a mere $5 million in
cash, plus 70 percent of any revenue collected on outstanding accounts
through the end of August. According to Diebold’s announcement the
sale was “consummated” Wednesday.
..ES&S systems were “utilized in counting approximately 50 percent of
the votes in the last four major U.S. elections,” ... The company also
created the statewide voter registration systems used in California,
Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska and New Mexico.
With its acquisition of Premier, the second-largest voting machine
maker, ES&S achieves a near monopoly on election gear in the country.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/09/diebold-sells/

Diebold unloads voting machine albatross
The ATM maker says it expects to lose up to $55 million as a result of
the sale of its voting machine subsidiary.
September 3, 2009: NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Diebold Inc. said
Thursday it has sold its voting machine business to Election Systems &
Software, Inc., in a deal that could result in a $55 million loss for
the ATM maker.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/03/news/companies/Diebold_voting_machine/

AP. Diebold selling US voting machine unit
NORTH CANTON, Ohio...Candice Hoke, an election law professor at
Cleveland State University, said the sale raises questions about the
consolidation of election services. "It's a massive consolidation of
voting-system vendors," she said.
The increased size and influence of ES&S could make it harder for
smaller, innovative companies to enter the market, she said. "The
market power (of ES&S) will be so significant," she said.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iiesbo_XRYKaqI5BTjx1nFgJGUzQD9AG1N900